There is a persistent trend of turning iconic television shows into hit movies that are able to live a life of their own. While the original runs of Mission: Impossible and The Fugitive were hits in their days, the equally beloved 1990s films helped retool the properties into far more prestigious star vehicles that earned an equally enthused new audience. That being said, it is not a formula that is guaranteed to be successful, as for every success like The Untouchables, there ends up being a massive underperformer like CHiPS. Although the idea of returning to a long dormant property in hopes of coasting off of nostalgia has been more common within the last few decades of Hollywood history, Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd starred in the 1987 reboot of the classic cop series Dragnet.
Although it was the first television series to be adapted into a feature length film with a new cast, Dragnet was also intended to capitalize on the trend of 1980s buddy comedies that had grown increasingly popular in the wake of the release of 48 Hrs. only a few years earlier. The concept of two bickering partners was applicable in any scenario, and both Hanks and Aykroyd were at positions within their respective careers in which they were well-suited to make the leap into “comedy blockbuster” filmmaking. Dragnet is a very fun adventure crime comedy, and while it sneaks in a few references to the original series, it does stand on its own for those that are experiencing the property for the first time.
What Is ‘Dragnet’ About?
Set in the criminal underbelly of Los Angeles, Dragnet focuses on two completely different police officers who are assigned to solve a series of strange heists that are seemingly orchestrated by an unknown criminal enterprise. Detective Sergeant Joe Friday (Aykroyd) is a strict, traditional law enforcement officer whose desire to play things “by the book” frequently draws the ire of his coworkers; comparatively, his new partner Pep Streebek (Hanks) is a street savvy, goofy hooligan who seems to enjoy getting into trouble. The two men immediately clash over everything from their opposing viewpoints on criminal justice to the specifics of Pep’s haircut; however, the discovery of a cult linked to the series of robberies forces the two men to settle their differences and become united in their goal of protecting the city.
Although there are a few specific references to the original show (including a recreation of the classic theme song), Dragnet works as a broad satire of the types of crime drama television shows that were popular in the 1980s. The original Dragnet may have been off the air since 1959 (with a sequel series that wrapped in 1970), but other drama shows like Miami Vice and 21 Jump Street were still at the peak of their popularity. The Dragnet film essentially felt like an extended episode, but had more time to focus on the characters and their widely different approaches. While a traditional television series could introduce a “case of the week” in each episode, the Dragnet film had to pool all of its ideas into just one narrative; as a result, the overarching narrative incorporates a cult, a government conspiracy, an illicit magazine publication, and a criminal attack into what felt like a means of satirizing the convoluted narrative structure of many “prestigious” television shows that tried to take their audiences by surprise with a series of twists.
Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd Have Great Chemistry in ‘Dragnet’
While it’s a film that takes any serious aspects of the crime genre and plays them for laughs, Dragnet is compelling because of the excellent chemistry between its two stars. While Aykroyd had already been a well known face in American comedy thanks to his work in Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers, he was generally cast as the goofball sidekick; Dragnet challenged him to play a more grounded, straight forward character whose sense of self-seriousness was used as an extended joke. Comparatively, Hanks had previously only appeared in broadly physical comedy roles in films like Splash and The Money Pit, which didn’t necessarily rely on his rapid fire comedic delivery. Dragnet showed that he was capable of working on a project that was slightly more high concept; it paved the way for his work on classics like Big, A League Of Their Own, and The ‘Burbs in the coming years.
While simply spending time listening to Aykroyd and Hanks hurl one-liners at each other is reason enough to enjoy the film as a comedy gem, Dragnet has a stacked supporting cast of venerable character actors. The notion of the great Christopher Plummer showing up as a main villain had almost already become a cliché at this point in his career, so the fact that he appeared as a non-nonsense reverend who morally objects to the publication of pornography serves as a particularly knowing bit of casting. Jack O’Hallaran served as one of the most gleefully ridiculous villains of any 1980s action comedy, and the cameo appearances by original Dragnet stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan were cleverly incorporated within the story that didn’t serve as a distraction for those who hadn’t previously been exposed to the franchise.
‘Dragnet’ Is the Ideal Type of ‘Soft Reboot’
Dragnet shows how to do a television-to-film adaptation right, as it prioritizes the story and atmosphere over niche references that didn’t appeal to audiences that weren’t already fans. While it is fun to see how the film inverts the structure of a typical Dragnet episode by heightening up the eccentricity, younger viewers may have viewed the film as ostensibly an original project that served as a star vehicle for Hanks and Aykroyd. In many ways, modern films based on television shows like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Miami Vice, The Fall Guy, and The Green Hornet all owe a debt of gratitude to Dragnet for proving that the model could work.
Dragnet is currently available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
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